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Obama goes big with focus on small

Swing state voters are hearing about topics like Burmese pythons and Asian carp. | AP Photos

Obama has granted exclusive interviews with TV reporters from swing states — and he’s used them to demonstrate his interest in local issues. Six of the eight networks invited to the White House on June 11 came from battlegrounds, including the Roanoke, Va., station that headlined its coverage: “President Obama tells WDBJ7’s Hollani Davis that he hasn’t forgotten Southside Virginia.”

Master Lock in Milwaukee got an Obama shout-out during the president’s Q&A with a local Green Bay, Wis., station: “The first kind of in-sourcing that we’ve seen in quite some time,” Obama said during the interview, referring to the iconic padlock manufacturer that has rehired 100 local workers.

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The president’s comments were packaged with a local TV story about administration loans for rural and small businesses, including $21 million for Wisconsin.

Speaking to a Jacksonville, Fla., TV reporter, Obama responded promptly when asked whether he’d make it a second-term priority to fund the dredging of the St. Johns River in Northern Florida so the city can bring in large cargo ships and house an aircraft carrier.

“Certainly on the port and the channels, that is something that’s very important to the economic development in the region,” Obama told WJXT. “We put it in our budget. Made sure the Army Corps had the resources to continue to look at the feasibility of deepening and expanding operations there. And my administration is fully committed to this, mainly because not only is it good for the Jacksonville region, it’s good for the entire country.”

Obama’s answer was a textbook example of how his policy pronouncements intersect with campaign politics. Florida gets more than its share of attention, as the python story shows.

The Environmental Protection Agency this month gave final approval to permits that will help launch an $880 million cleanup plan for the Everglades that’s among the world’s largest environmental restoration projects. Vice President Joe Biden, during an official April visit to the Everglades that local media dubbed a campaign event, touted the 12-year old project that he said had been stalled until Obama got elected.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who talked to reporters after touring the Everglades by airboat with Biden, also emphasized the Interior Department’s decision to clamp down on the invasive snakes after he had pressed the issue unsuccessfully for five years.

“The vice president got to see the River of Grass,” Nelson said, according to the Miami Herald. “And he got to see those alligators. He didn’t get to see the Burmese pythons, which we are desperately trying to get rid of and, finally, thanks to this administration, they have stopped the importation of this invasive species. Amen to that.”

Obama’s emphasis on two invasive species doesn’t appear to have a downside in an election year, said Mark Damian Duda, executive director of Harrisonburg, Va.-based Responsive Management, a polling firm that specializes in outdoor and natural resource issues.

Readers' Comments (386)

Obama's Grand Plan to restore the American economy is that old proposal he sent to Congress last October that even Reid won't vote on............lol.

It's simply OVER for the one who continues to lose power and influence.

And its a Lose Lose situation for him when the SC strikes down his unconstitutional rammed through ObamaCare.

He loses if its upheld which will lead to the majority of American flocking to the polls to defeat him in order to defeat ObamaCare ...............and he loses if the SC strikes it down because its his "Signature piece of legislation".

Let this be a "teachable lesson" that you might be able to hide your extreme liberal/progressive Ideology during the campaign but when you begin to govern and submit your ideas on paper in the form of legislation the truth comes out.

It could be a good political tactic. Romney is still seen with a disconnect to the American people. Small wedges could be formed to crack against the growing discontent with Obama.

Or, this could be seen as nothing more than 'shallow concern'..and the American people would look at Obama as "As President, you are supposed to be concerned with the big issues and fixing these issues"..

I believe jobs will trump smaller issues. Like all people, I care about environmental issues. Asian carp, asian bees, asian termites, pythons, etc, impact our states. States should pick up those problems and work with the Interior Department. It seems to me that Obama is giving a promise which is no different to lip service. I think voters do see this, and will remain focused on jobs.

This is the best effort to deflect attention from moral bankruptcy, self-service, and liberal failure--media's, politicians', and Obama's? But then again---who is more familiar with a serpent than a serpent? It takes a carp to know a carp!

Washington, D.C., where the inmates have overtaken the asylum!! Home of "lobotomies" waiting to happen!

This is the liberal's best effort to deflect attention from moral bankruptcy, know-it-all self-service and self-aggrandizement, lifestyles of dirt grovelers, how to dodge the bull in the home of the great whites, the elephant that isn't in the room?

The personification of "it takes a serpent to know a serpent" and "the carper-in-chief" carps on carps." Visit the nation's capital--Washington, D.C.--where the inmates have overtaken the asylum and there's a "lobotomy waiting list" ad infinitum!

Obama must be replaced because he does not listen to Americans. We have told him many times we do not want amnesty for his illegal aliens. The Congress has told him many times as well. Obama is a dictator and we do not want dictators in the White House. The Congress must impeach Obama for signing an executive order against the will of Americans and the Congress. And for claiming executive order (he is hiding something). Let's replace Obama in 11 2012 or impeach him now. Obama must be replaced. And Obama is a socialist who does not support capitalism. Obama keeps attacking Mitt Romney because Mitt made money in the United States. Where do you want, Obama, people to make money? In Cuba or Venezuela? You are wrong Obama. We do not want Obama in the White House. Obama is destroying our country with bad policies and illegal aliens. Illegal aliens must be deported now. Obama is like Hugo Chavez who does not respect our Constitution and does not respect the will of Americans. Obama must go.

We’re seeing, once again, why it’s so hard to beat an incumbent president. Challengers can make promises galore, but presidents can actually make good on them.

All the best presidential candidates have a crack staff that educates the candidate concerning key local issues. Voters want a federal government that’s informed of and responsive to their local needs. Being both is not only smart politics, it’s good government. Some decry “big” government but many of those same people cry and complain hotly when they feel the pain of a local problem and can’t get government to resolve it.

It puts Romney in another difficult situation: either he endorses President Obama’s administration’s Everglades clean-up and python import ban or he stands against something very popular with the local voters.

When the American public value sports and American Idol shows along with 'reality TV' shows over the day to day life and concerns. you just rounded the stupidity bend..

Let's just hope there are more people 'non-stupid' than stupid ones..

lol...............yeah sadly you have point......

And I'll expand on that point.

Posters here on Politico (the regulars), regardless of their political views and positions, are 100 times more informed than the general public. To this day, they don't know what the major issues or points are with either candidate. One woman, when asked about Mitt Romney's profession, said "I heard he's a chicken farmer"..

And its a Lose Lose situation for him when the SC strikes down his unconstitutional rammed through ObamaCare.

I can see how a Supreme Court decision to undermine the Constitution-authorized powers of Congress to regulate interstate commerce could help President Obama politically. First, we have a dangerously activist Supreme Court subverting the Constitution, which could rally a lot of voters to President Obama. Second, such a decision would mean a lot of Republicans that never trusted or liked RINO Romney won't have to vote for him if the Supreme Court's decision takes care of their biggest concern.